Meet the new WineDirect

Welcome to our new website! We’ve recently made some big changes to offer you a more seamless DTC experience, including folding Vin65 into the WineDirect brand. Got questions? Learn more here, or

Before you go

Download our free ebook, Break Into the Top 20% of Wineries.

Informed by our own proprietary data from over 1,500 wineries, our popular ebook takes a close look at the wine industry’s most effective direct-to-consumer sales operations and provides actionable advice for every winery—because we believe all wineries deserve to know how today’s consumers think and how to maximize their potential.

VIN65 is now

As of November 2nd, Vin65 is now WineDirect. We've made this change to offer you a more seamless DTC experience. You'll see that our branding has changed, but our commitment to providing you with best-in-class DTC software remains the same. Got questions? Learn more here, or

5 Key Takeaways from the 2017 DTC Survey

Each year, the teams at Silicon Valley Bank and Wine Business Monthly conduct a survey of the direct-to-consumer (DTC) wine industry and the results for 2017 are in. Here are five takeaways we got from watching their videocast:

1. Wine Club vs. Tasting Room Revenue

In more developed wine regions like Napa or Sonoma, wine clubs make up about 45% of DTC sales while tasting room accounts for 30%. In less developed regions like New York or Virginia, wine club sales are 10-20% and tasting room sales are 60-70% of total. The hypothesis here is that as an area matures, more and more sales are driven by recurring purchases from out-of-state visitors, whereas in newer markets, sales are predominantly driven by the local community. The challenge for wineries in up and coming regions is to switch that dynamic and drive more wine club sign ups.

In addition to wine clubs and tasting room revenue, our own data shows that among the top 20% of wineries, ecommerce makes up a much larger percentage of sales than among the bottom 80%. You can learn more about that in our eBook on How to Break Into the Top 20% of Wineries.

3. Wine Club Growth is High — But So Is Attrition

According to the survey, gross wine club growth was 30% on average, but club attrition was a whopping 16%. Considering that it is much cheaper to retain an existing customer than it is to attract new ones, this statistic suggests that wineries should focus more resources on retention strategies. Which brings me to the next point:

4. Giving Wine Club Members a Choice Increases Conversion and Retention

In past years, we've seen evidence that offering your club members a choice in their club shipments increases their membership length by 3-4 months. This year's survey found that offering customers a choice meaningfully increased conversion rates from 4% (no choice) to 6% (full choice). This is in line with the growing club trend from providers like Blue Apron, Dollar Shave Club and others that allow seemingly endless custom and personalization.

5. Always Be Collecting .... Data

According to Liz Mercer of WISE Academy, only about 20% of wineries are asking for an email address in the tasting room. Considering that the top 20% of wineries have an email list four times as large as the bottom 80%, and that the tasting room is one of the easiest places to get new contacts for your list, this is a no brainer. And if you're wondering how much an email address is worth to your winery, download our DTC Checklist which includes an easy calculator.